Hiasl enjoys a pastry every now and again. He enjoys to paint and to just relax and watch TV. There is probably a litany of things that Hiasl (pronounced HEE-zul) enjoys doing similar to you and I. The only thing is that Hiasl is not a person, at least not yet. He is a 26 year old chimpanzee. However, if animal activists get their way, he will be declared a “person”.

“Our main argument is that Hiasl is a person and has basic legal rights,” said Eberhart Theuer, a lawyer leading the challenge on behalf of the Association Against Animal Factories, a Vienna animal rights group.

“We mean the right to life, the right to not be tortured, the right to freedom under certain conditions,” Theuer said.

The shelter that Hiasl and Rosie have lived in for 25 years went bankrupt and activists are looking to ensure the two monkeys do not wind up homeless. It appears that the two have already had their share of suffering.

Activists want to ensure the apes don’t wind up homeless if the shelter closes. Both have already suffered: They were captured as babies in Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled in a crate to Austria for use in pharmaceutical experiments. Customs officers intercepted the shipment and turned the chimps over to the shelter.

Primate rights for monkeys, what a novel concept … Monkeys are people too.

Austria isn’t the only country where primate rights are being debated. Spain’s parliament is considering a bill that would endorse the Great Ape Project, a Seattle-based international initiative to extend “fundamental moral and legal protections” to apes.

Battle for a chimp to get ‘person’ status

Isn’t this how the Planet of the Apes movie series started?

In a closely watched test case that could set a global legal precedent for granting basic rights to apes, Austrian animal rights advocates are waging an unusual court battle to get the 26-year-old male chimpanzee legally declared a “person.”

Hiasl’s supporters argue that he needs that status to become a legal entity who can receive donations and get a guardian to look out for his interests. (CNN)

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Comments

11 Responses to “Equal Rights for Monkeys (Hiasl) … Monkeys are People Too”

LilPuma on
May 5th, 2007 2:28 pm

Chimps are apes, not monkeys. Their DNA is said to be 99% the same as a human. Gorillas’ DNA is about 98% the same as human. Like many animals they exhibit emotions and make social bonds. In the wild, chimps form societies with a social structure. They’re not human, but their physical and social needs should be considered. I do believe that animals have that right and we, the human caretakers of this planet, need to also be caretakers of animals in captivity or the wild.

Didn’t miss it, Red, but I thought the distinction should be made because of the close links between apes and humans and the strong social and family bonds that we share with gorillas and chimps. For a while, Letterman kept making Giant Monkey jokes about King Kong, and I sat here saying “he’s an Ape, damn it!”

Having said that, if anyone has a chance to see an Animal Planet special documentary on monkeys they named Romeo and Juliette, it’s a great story. Keep tissues handy.

I hope that those who are pushing making this chimp a legal person tread carefully. He might retaliate with a lawsuit seeking damages for slander … and might cite certain politicians, movie stars, and other people much in the news as proof that his being considered a human being, if only for legal purposes, is a descent in his status.

joe bear on
May 5th, 2007 4:15 pm

THEY HAVE A LOT IN COMMON,MORE SO THAN SOME HUMANS.NUMBER 3,THAT IS FUNNY.THE WHOLE POST IS FUNNY

This story about the chimp reminds me of another story. I’m not sure if it’s true, but wouldn’t be surprised….

A group of animal psychologists, experts, and what have you were doing a study of how apes “think.” They put an ape in a controlled environment … a room or something like that … and built in eight ways to escape. They then settled back and watched to see which way he’d use.

What happened? The ape came up with a ninth way that they hadn’t thought about.

Certainly if you compare the van der Sloots to the average ape, the latter scores higher on decency, intelligence, and probably heredity.

Looks? I’ll leave that up to you ….

Jerry from Ohio on
May 8th, 2007 5:13 am

YUP Richard #10 ?
The Apes are far better looking then any of the VanDerSloots
or the Kalpoes even though Deepak and Satish do have that certain Ape like appearance ( Please, meaning NO Offense to the Apes LOL !
Besides I have always liked animals
more then a lot of humans anyway .
I have never had an animal talk behind my back
I have never saw an animal murder another animal for sex
I have never heard of an animal lying to save their own butts.